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NYPD sergeant acquitted in Deborah Danner's death

NYPD Sgt. Hugh Barry, center, is arraigned at Bronx Supreme Court in the death of Deborah Danner on May 31, 2017. (GREGG VIGLIOTTI/THE NEW YORK TIMES/POOL)

The acquittal of a veteran NYPD sergeant in the fatal shooting of a schizophenic Bronx woman came Thursday in a deadly quiet courtroom — and then the shouting started.

City police unions praised the verdict before they blasted Mayor de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill after a Bronx bench trial ended with Sgt. Hugh Barry’s exoneration on all charges.

The sergeant sat stoically as Supreme Court Judge Robert Neary announced his decision around 9:40 a.m. in the dramatic finish to Barry’s trial for killing Deborah Danner, 66, inside her Bronx apartment.

Barry, 31, was charged with murder after firing two bullets into the mentally ill woman’s chest during a quickly escalating showdown that lasted just seconds.

The victim’s sister Jennifer Danner raised her eyebrows slightly as the officer was cleared in the killing. Barry testified that his life was in danger when Danner swung a 32-inch baseball bat at his head.

Sgt. Ed Mullins, head of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, praised the verdict while ripping de Blasio, O’Neill and Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark.

“What I saw was the police commissioner play politics,” said Mullins. “I saw a mayor play politics and a district attorney play politics.”

Barry “was wronged all along, and it’s up now to the commissioner to make it right,” the union head continued after the verdict. “He owes him an apology. The mayor owes him an apology. And so does the district attorney.”

The sergeants union, via its Twitter page, released a photo depicting the trio of city officials as “Three Blind Mice. See how...‘They failed’!”

Barry still faces an NYPD investigation of what went wrong during the Oct. 18, 2016, slaying.

The victim’s family and friends, in far more subdued style, questioned how Barry was found guilty of no crime in the killing of a senior citizen.

Danner’s cousin Wallace Cooke Jr., a former NYPD officer, expressed his disgust after hearing the decision in a trial that lasted just over two weeks.

“Police departments allow this to happen,” he said. “To have this going on today is unacceptable.”

And the victim’s friend Chris Berry, after attending the trial daily, expected the verdict handed down by Neary.